The nature of the way snowboards are attached to the boots as well as their ability to run effortlessly and rapidly over the snow makes keeping hold of your snowboard a challenging task at times. A piece of safety gear that is critical for people snowboarding to wear always is the snowboard safety leash.

A safety leash is a strap that is fastened to the snowboarder's front leg and is designed to avoid runaway boards if your bindings release for any reason or if something happens while you're taking it off or putting it on. The snowboard leash is meant to be worn at about knee height which will mean the snowboarder can keep it safely secured while carrying the board under the arm when on foot.

The idea of the leash is to reduce the dangers that arise from runaway snowboards. Getting into and out of the snowboard bindings can occasionally put the snowboarder in an ungainly position chiefly when attempting to do so on a steep mountainside so the risk that the board will slip away is more real than some people will acknowledge. A runaway board can hurt an unsuspecting person below or can be scratched itself if it runs into something solid.

The wise path is to take away the risk of injury or board damage entirely by wearing the appropriate snowboarding paraphernalia. In some cases you won't have an option with some resorts enforcing a no leash - no ride policy. Most bindings that you buy nowadays come with a snowboard leash as a safety feature.

A snowboard leash is one of the pieces of equipment you should add on your shopping list when you go out to buy a snowboard. They're comparatively low-priced and they could wind up saving you a lot of money in the long run.

If in the rare likelihood that your bindings break you at least have the security of knowing that your board will be safely attached to you by the leash. Some snowboarders are disdainful of wearing such an uncool accessory but it simply makes good sense.

There has been a significant evolution in snowboard binding design since the early boarding days. Early bindings were not 100 percent reliable, sometimes releasing or breaking. In these cases the leash was important to have. Note that even telemark skis have safety leashes and this gear is generally not releasable. Of course one thing this all leads to is an attempt by the ski resorts to limit their liability by making you responsible for your board.